Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Treb

Member
  • Posts

    261
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Treb

  1. I've found John East quite responsive to emails in the past. With regard to the DJ-Retro preamps, I've read that John East has difficulty obtaining the curved control plates from Lakland. That would explain the difficulty of buying one. It would be nice however if questions by email get answered...

    • Like 1
  2. 20 hours ago, TheGhostofJaco said:

    So what is about the Sadowsky that doesn’t do it for him that an Fbass does?

     

    Just personal preference I guess. I have a Japanese Will Lee, it was my dream bass. In every aspect it is an awesome bass. However I am much more in love with my two Xotic basses... Perhaps for him an F-bass just has that little bit of an advantage over a Sadowsky.

    • Like 1
  3. Keeley's Abbey Chamber Verb may be just what the doctor ordered... Apparently it is discontinued, perhaps you could track down a used one.

     

     

    preview.jpg

    Quote

    Abbey Chamber Verb

    Soft Vintage Reverb – Keeley’s Recreation of the Famous Studio’s Echo Chamber

    An echo room chamber is a space where program material is played and the reverberations are captured on a microphone. You know the classic sounds of a good church or music hall. Studios needed to capture these effects without always going to a church or hall to record. So, they built their own echo chambers. The famous EMI/Abbey studio had 3 echo chambers. They also used electronic filters to carefully refine the sound in order to make it easier to record, which made the end results sound impeccable.

    We have incorporated the RS106 filter which had points at 600Hz high pass filter and a 10K low pass filter. In the studio, music (or your guitar) was filtered through at these points before being sent to the speaker in the echo chamber. This made for a tighter, more defined sound to be present in the chamber.

    Next there is the Brilliance Control, either the RS127 or RS135. This was what the engineers used to refine the reverb sound that they captured on the microphone. Engineers could select one of 3 frequency points to boost or cut by +/-10 dB. The key frequencies they targeted were 2.7 kHz, 3.5 kHz, or 10 kHz, now offered on the Abbey Chamber Verb.

     

    • Like 1
  4. 4 hours ago, TheGhostofJaco said:

    ... there was always something I wanted to change about the instrument. Once I went with the Sadowskys, I was pretty much done ...

     

    I have that with my Japanese MetroLine and my two Xotics. These are all 4 string basses but I don't have the urge to change anything. 

     

    With the Sadowsky Tokyo/MetroLine Roger wanted to offer a more affordable Sadowsky bass without losing quality in craftmanship. So out went the luxury options. In a custom shop every instrument is a one-off, with a standard set of woods and finishes you can get a production line going and thus bring costs down. I must say that over the years MetroLine basses got more expensive and offered more choice in finishes. Nowadays a MetroLine (either Japan or Germany) isn't what I would call affordable.  

    • Like 1
  5. Three Trickfish cabs:

    • 2x TF112
    • 1x TF410V

    Why Trickfish? Well together with the Trickfish amps (Bullhead Mini & .5K) the sound out of my rigs is exactly what I want it to sound like. I have a gentle EQ curve on my Source Audio EQ2. I rarely use the EQ on the amps.

     

    MarkBass cabs

    • 2x New York 804

    Cool little cabs (like mini 410's), but not nearly as nice sounding as the Trickfish ones. When you crank the amp you can feel them pushing the air in your back, feels nice.

    F1A6595A-E1D1-45A4-A8AA-71F3259F0FF1.JPG

    • Like 1
  6. The Darryl Jones has 60's spacing (my DJ4 has that), not much of a 70's vibe going on there. If you fancy 70's J-bass tone take a look at Xotic XJ-1T's. New they're over your budget but a decent used one may fall in your price bracket. Very nice J-bass tone with 70's vibe, a very good preamp (I prefer it over the Sadowsky one), active/passive switch, series/parallel switch, wood pickup covers, excellent fit & finish. I have two 4 string XJ-1T's (alder+rosewood and ash+maple).

    F1A6595A-E1D1-45A4-A8AA-71F3259F0FF1.JPG

     

    Just thought of a more budget friendly option: the Xotic XJ-Pro Vintage basses. Available only in 5 string versions. Made in Indonesia. Has been discontinued but perhaps a used one can be found.

    • Like 2
  7. I have seen quite a few limited edition Tone Hammer amps. The recurring theme is the faceplate gets a new colour and the amp a price hike. While some of them do look nice, at the end of the day they're just bog standard Tone Hammer amps behind the pretty facade. Not that there's anything wrong with Tone Hammer amps, I have a 350 as a backup amp for my Trickfish. The new 30th Annyversary? Meh.

  8. That's basic supply and demand at work. Currently supply is nil and likely to stay that way. I do know why that is, but let's not get into the sordid details. There's a snot green (beauty is in the eye of the beholder, eh) Celinder J  over at the Bass Gallery in Camden with a similar asking price. I do know that Marcus tribute bass is probably not gonna sell at that price but I'm only prepared to fork out half of that. Besides my Marcus-tone quest has come to an end (for now) with the arrival of my Xotic XJ-1T in ash & maple...

    • Like 2
  9. On 09/09/2024 at 15:10, J.Wolf said:

    We realize this amp isn't for everyone...

     

    Haha, you're right about that! I can't imagine needing so much power ever. Then again I don't do gigs but for those who don't believe in in-ears and need/want to run three 8 Ohm cabinets it might be a solution. For the time being my Bullhead Mini 500 (plus TF112) serves me well.

  10. I have a V5 in vintage white. It's a really nice bass for the money. Plays pretty decent right out of the box. Hardware is OK but could be improved upon. Soundwise it has a very nice 70's J-bass tone. I installed a John East J-tone01 preamp in mine to elevate its sound even further. 

    • Like 1
  11. On 13/05/2021 at 17:07, Supernaut said:

    Not at all!

    Bigger gauge strings don't equal bigger tone has lots seem to think. 

    I beg to differ. Have you ever tried a 30/50/70/90 set? Such a set has a lot of twang but lacks in grunt IMO. The difference between 45-100 and 45-105 is negligable, tried both gauges. I usually buy 45-105's.

  12. I recently bought a NOS 2016 Japanese Will Lee 4 string. Fit and finish-wise my Sire V5 and Skyline DJ4 can't touch it. The Sadowsky almost plays itself. Coupled with the preamp and VTC it's possible to dial in a range of useable sounds. Mine is the only Sadowsky I have played so I can't compare, but the Japanese basses appear to have a good reputation. Japanese basses can still be found new BTW, though depending on model they aren't exactly a bargain...

    • Like 3
  13. On 04/04/2021 at 17:57, Mudpup said:

    Just a heads up - there's a bargain red USA Sterling on Faceache at the moment at £825. Not mine by the way and i'm not affiliated with the seller. 

     https://www.facebook.com/groups/UKBassgear/permalink/2220373274762662/?comment_id=2220481194751870&notif_id=1617535872524660&ref=notif&notif_t=group_comment_reply

    Really nice bass by the looks of it. Love the white perloid PG with that red, much better than the bog standard black PG. 

  14. I just installed a Nordstrand MM4.3 in mine... It's too late to test it full bore though (but considering the curfew going on at the moment it would be a nice opportunity to see which of the neighbours (not strictly next-door!) has the balls to come and complain 😀). But what I'm hearing is a lot more StingRay in sound signature. 

    IMG_3523.jpg

    • Like 1
×
×
  • Create New...